NGA RAKAU the trees of Waipoua

Kauri are the trees that give their name to the sub-tropical forest – bush – of Waipoua, which is in part due to their enormous size, but mostly because these great trees dominate to land and sky of the forest area. On land they modify the soil in which they stand and by various means prevent competing trees from growing nearby, while their hight thrusts them above the top canopy of the forest to become citadels of the landscape.

There are many other great trees in the forest, however, including the lofty kahikatea, powerful puriri, mighty totara and staunch rimu. These are attended by a multitude that make up the intermediate and lower levels of the forest, all having their own particular characteristics, whakapapa (genealogy) and associations with the birds and insects of Waipoua.